From: rgallen@muug.mb.ca (Rennie Allen) Subject: Re: NT vs Linux (was: Re: truth or dare) Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1993 04:17:11 GMT
In <WPWOOD.93Jul7133712@darkwing.austin.ibm.com> wpwood@darkwing.austin.ibm.com writes:
>out there on internet. The developers had no other incentive than
>personal pride and the joy of hacking. These can be very powerful
>incentives.
Well, (trying not to start a flame war - and I think we're leaving the NT
arena a bit here), I must say that I would question the quality of Linux
myself. I haven't used it but I am familiar with it's basic design and I
must say it's no screaming hell. Linux is a monolithic kernel essentially
no different from the OS's of the early 70's. UNIX's excuse is that it was
developed in the early 70's; what's Linuxs' ?
There is more to quality software than code that will pass through lint
without a burp. There is *design*. Linux has no *design* it is simply a
clone of what has gone before, it does nothing to advance the state of the
art in OS design. If the Linuxs' of the world become popular, that will be
a sad day indeed.
I think that the GNU utilities are indispensable, important pieces of
quality software, however, these are totally different beasts than an OS. An
OS is a large and complex piece of software, and the elegance of the
architecture of the OS has a profound impact on the functionality of the
resulting application/s of that OS.
I have never had any problem with people using Linux to further their
understanding of OS basics, or to hone their coding skills by working on it,
but to suggest that it be a replacement for a well though out architecturaly
engineered operating system is well; pushing it a little to far.
Obviously these are my opinions, and I would be pleased to carry on this
discussion via email, however, I think it has outgrown any relevence to NT
at this point, so I'm outa here...
email: rgallen@muug.mb.ca mail: Expert Technology Corporation
QUICS: rgallen (613) 591-0934 34 Riverstone Rd.
Voice: (204) 339-8005 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R2V 4B2